Atleast Ramiele got a faceful of Kristy Lee for a good 20 seconds. That's a nice parting gift if you ask me. Oh, and Dolly was pretty dreadful. Thank Jesus for having about 15 backup singers in that choir to drown her out most of the song.

Hottest chick just left the show. Thanks, asswhite

I'm definitely on the "cute" side of the fence when it comes to pretty, petite Asian chicks. I don't see anything hot about Ramiele at all. She looks and acts like a 15 year old.

Thankfully, I only listened to about 30 seconds of Dolly - I was listening to some MP3s and just didn't want to hear a country song. I didn't realize she can't sing anymore. Wow. That was pretty awful.

that was quite erotic. I was hoping they'd make out.

Did you guys see Castro during the group sing? Not only was his vocal pretty weak, but that dance thing he did was bizarre as hell. I swear, I think someone off stage is controlling his arms and legs. It's one thing to be shy and awkward socially, but he acts like he's never moved in public before.

And Archuleta keeps proving he has no idea how to sing a song with tempo. He couldn't pull off his solo without sounding strange/awkward, either. And of course, Ramiele missed her cue on the first line, which was not surprising.

And WTF with It's Tricky!

my wife immediately turned to me and asked if I wanted to rewind it so that I could enjoy it again.

so, am I the only one who thinks Castro looks and sounds annoyingly like John Travolta when he's signing?

Someone made that comment about his performance on Tuesday. I can honestly say I have no recollection of Travolta singing. I know I've heard him in Grease, but that was a long time ago.

You could just console yourself with a tranny prostitute. Close enough, right?

:p

+1

I kind of go back and forth on Castro, wondering if he is a complete poser or if he really may be a stoner (or a third option--that is he is just stone, cold dumb). For the first few weeks, I thought he was a total poser, but after hearing him interviewed a few times, I'm leaning towards stoner or idiot.

stoner, for sure.

We can put a man on the moon but we can't boot Castro off of this show?!?

I say stoner, the wife says stone cold dumb.

We all know who's right in that disagreement.

We've made those comments here at work. I'm expecting at any time for him to bust out into a Vinnie Barbarino - 'What? Where?'

I can't remember if I posted the original news about this here or not, but if I did, it's now off:


In a Wednesday conference call with reporters, American Idol executive producer Nigel Lythgoe offered updates on this year’s “Idol Gives Back” fundraising effort, to air Wednesday, April 9. For starters, Lythgoe cleared the air on talk that Mariah Carey would perform a duet with the late Marvin Gaye, a la Celine Dion and Elvis Presley a year ago. “Unfortunately, it’s not [happening],” he shared. “We couldn’t get the rights to music with Marvin, so we had to cancel it.” (Chalk up one unsettling/eerie bullet dodged.)

Also, Nigel seems to have backed away from doing the "add a person to the tour" contest that was originally planned.

Nobody worth adding to the tour, plus Paula is available.

"Ramiele plans to move in with her bud Danny Noriega. If show business doesn’t work out, she plans on going to nursing school."

everytime i see him with that goofy ass grin on his face and those ridiculous dreads, all i can think of is Janice from The Muppet Show (the chick from Dr Teeth and the Electric Mayhem)

Hey, two for the price of one. Heck, they really only need one closet.

there are so many jokes available with this as the setup.....

no comments on tonights show? wierd...

here is mine: david cook is messed up. sounded very odd from the first note and was a complete 180 from his usual smiling cocky self.

maybe his brother has gotten even worse?

OK I'll bite.

1. Jason Castro
2. Brooke White
3. David Archuleta
4. Kristy Lee Cook
5. David Cook
6. Carly Smithson
7. Michael Johns
8. Syesha Mercado

Did I miss anyone? Might edit with comments in a bit. Watching Hell's Kitchen DVR right now.

This week's Football Frontier recap of American Idol is posted.

http://www.solecismic.com/frontierblog/?p=244

Overall: It was the revenge of the over-practiced, indulgent theme songs of youth who have yet to learn how to perform. Wannabe Week featured far too many unnecessary trills and not enough seasoned interpretations. A surprising leader and a surprising seventh-place from a favorite.

I have to agree with Jim on the winner:

1. Kristy Lee Cook - She could actually have a career in country with some handling. Color me a little shocked. Very nice performance.
2. Michael Johns - very good job with a tough song. Enjoyed his performance.
3. David A - I think having him not look head on is good for him. We don't see that brooding face all performance. Still, one of his better songs. He's becoming a Richard Marx-lite.
4. Jason - Back to a charming performance. But, I still don't really get this guy.
5. Brooke - Safe and pleasant. Enough to keep her on the show, but boring.
6. David C - Got too full of himself and tried to do a song that's really not right for this show. Maybe he's doing his "Daughtry" mail in now.
7. Carly - Angry Irish woman yelling a Queen song at us on Charity week. Broke the flow of the show and needs to dial down her intensity a bit - esp on a week with ukulele rainbows and Sweet Baby James songs.
8. Syesha - The exact opposite of KLC - she sang an emotional song like a robot. The "not-quite-Whitney" schtick is getting tired.

Jason and Michael were my favorite of the night. Our Lady Peace has always been one of my favorite bands and it's too bad Cook didn't do a better performance with that.

Sometimes Carly scares me. She has a decent voice, but when she sings her high notes it looks like she's channeling them from hell or something. She gets this really ugly triangular face, and it's almost as though she pulls herself out of the song to get the high notes and then jumps back into the songs. She just can't insert them smoothly into the performance, therefore they feel too forced and out of place.

Carly scares me too...mostly because she looks a LOT like an ex-girlfriend.

I think Syesha goes tonight, she loves the divas but just doesn't have the voice to match them. When are Idol contestants gonna learn never to sing a song that a previous Idol has released? There are always going to be comparisions, and usually not good ones.

May be some shockers in the bottom 3 this week with Michael Johns and David Cook stumbling. Don't see Brooke there though Jim much less going home. Carly could be in danger though which would be a disappointment if she went home this early.

I pictured her more like this.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/atomics...in/set-144263/

am I the only one who felt sorry for Paula's breasts? those poor things seemed like they were in a great deal of pain last night.

I really thought it was the episode where they would finally get off the island.

I still like Castro. I would still probably buy his CD. I still don't think he's a good fit for this show.

On Carly - Am I reading too much into her outfit? It seemed like at least a slight nod to Freddy Mercury to me?

absolutely a nod, IMO

Ok. It was very clever IMO and I was disappointed that it wasn't mentioned since I imagine much of the viewing audience missed it.

Here I thought I was the only one. I agree that he's toast in the near future, but he's the only one on the show who's initial CD I am all-but-certain to purchase. I really do enjoy his style and voice. *shrug*

I'm not shocked that there wasn't a ton of comment last night during the show. It was "okay" television, but almost completely forgettable. Or maybe even almost instantly forgettable.

I thought Castro's version was pretty neat last night, knowing it was a rip-off. I pulled up the original version of the ukulele version and listened to it this morning, and thinking back now I hate Castro's version. Holy god, he butchered that song. He needs to go yesterday.

I can't stand David A because he pretty much does this 'inspirational' crap every week so, joy of all joys.. I get everyone singing this crap.

I hate inspirational.

Iz's version is much better.

That Israel Kamakawiwo'ole version was the perfect fit for his voice though.

Yes. Anybody who hadn't heard that version would have thought how novel his performance was but anybody who had heard that version, like myself, would have thought it was horrible. He did a terrible job with it.

sigh

Dialidol results are very interesting and in line with my bottom 3 last night (as well as my top 3.) That was David Cook's worst performance by a huge margin I thought and I agree with the comments that Carly seemed angry.

Edit: I also thought Carly's comment that she lost it because of the way Simon was looking at her was one of the lamest things a contestant has ever said.

my prediction for the last two tonight are carly and syesha, although i honestly think brooke should be gone (a long time ago) that was such a boring as performance last night and again demonstrated that she has zero range.

No results show until Thursday. Tonight, it is 2:30 hours of Idol Gives back. At least they got more celebrities this time.

My dad was ripping her outfit right away, and I told him that he should re-watch Live Aid -- aside from color, that was a definite nod to Mercury, and I thought it was a great touch. I didn't particularly enjoy her performance, but I loved the kudos to Mercury with her outfit.

I have heard that version and I love it, but it's been a while. I didn't think that Castro did that bad, so I'll have to give the "original" a re-listen.

I would hope one's opinion of a performance wouldn't change after hearing someone else's performance. Come on guys.

Well, it most likely won't change my opinion. I thought Castro's performance was pretty ok. Nothing amazing. But the way a couple of people have panned his version, I might need to go give the original a re-listen...might be even better than I remember :)

Well I'm just saying my opinion that Jason Castro did really well last night is not going to change after watching someone else do the same arrangement of the same song. And it shouldn't. I don't think it was "novel" because it wasn't really. I think it was a good performance.

that Heart/Fergie was sick. I dont even think Fergie is a good singer but she killed that. Well done.

???

Chris purposely tanked so he can get (relatively) more freedom than to be shackled with being an Idol winner, or something like that.

200 Million $$$$$$$

from England? Holy shit!!

20 million mosquito nets at $10 each

Amazing how he purposely "tanked" yet had the top rated performance ot the night by many forums/fans when he got voted out.

Damn, I've watched Live Aid a handful of times on Youtube and definitely didn't think about the homage, too bad.

I heard the version rowech is referring to before hearing Castro and I still liked it.

No doubt, but it wasn't to the fans that he tanked but to the producers and powers-that-be to not continue to an obvious win.

"an obvious win?"

hehe

I had to double-check to make sure that I didn't mix up the seasons and saw he was on the year they had Hicks, McPhee and that Yamin dude. Yeah, I would say so, depending how much they wanted to push McPhee and whether she was up to it. Still thinks that Hicks winning was embarrasing.

Hicks winning was ridiculous. McPhee was obviously better than both all 3 of those others.

Always found that to be an amazingly silly conspiracy theory. People seem to forget that Idol has most of the top 10 locked up.

In hindsight, definitely looks like it. However, at the time, IIRC, Hicks was being pushed, and pushed hard, since the semi-final round. I remember when they told each individually if they'd be moving on and he was doing that harmonica thing that everyone loved.

I'm kind of, um, shocked at this song choice???????

I'm shocked who got the boot. Didn't see that one coming at all. Thought it was for sure one of the other two.

I called it when Ryan said it would be an "emotional" conclusion.

Definitely a surprise. I thought top 5 at least for who got the boot.

Great I acc. delete the DVR recording of it and now ya'll are being vague! Someone spoiler tag the eliminated contestant for me

Wow..

First time I have ever seen Jim G. missing the call.

Did anyone else think it was a dick move for Seacrest to say, "Last year, noone got voted off during Idol Gives Back. This year, Michael Johns is going home?"

Yeah, that was kinda dickish. Get his hopes up falsely. I thought Brooke should have left.

I thought Syesha was definitely the one that needed to go, myself. Syesha and Kristy Lee Cook are the two that are holding on for dear life as far as talent is concerned at this point.

I think tonight's episode confirmed that Castro is, in fact, a stoner.

When Michael was announced to be going home, all the other contestants were standing up and clapping and/or crying. Meanwhile, Castro was still sitting down, looking out into space.

As soon as he said it, my wife said "I was starting to like him more this year, but that was a total dick move!" I concurred.

I liked it. I have zero respect for johns

Why? I don't understand how you can have zero respect for someone who you see about 10 minutes of on a weekly basis, as a guest on a reality show.

do you know the backstory on him?

That he was in that shitty band? Who cares?

no. That he stole those bands songs and attempted to market them as his own?

thats the story I heard anyway

disappointing that Johns left before Castro, Carly, Syesha and KLC, but he wasn't going to win anyway. The competition looks to be between Brooke and the Davids. So, until we get to that bottom three, it really doesn't matter what order the others go in.

I would be surprised to see Brooke last till the top 3 actually, she's been looking out of her league in the past 2 weeks or so and I think people will get tired of her doing the same thing over and over soon. I'm not saying she's bad, just that she probably would find it hard to last another 6-8 weeks.

Not much of a surprise to me that Johns got voted off, but then, I'm all about knowing the inside scoop, as you guys know.

Here is a summary of what Nigel told Sirius yesterday morning:

…Tonights results might surprise quite a few people and reminds people that its important that the singers do well each week and that someone can be riding high at the top of the pack and the next week be gone. He mentioned Constantine who had never been in the bottom 3 and had been a star with BR and then just like that he was eliminated…

Given those comments and his reference to Constantine having never been bottom 3, and factoring in the DialIdol results, the only logical conclusion (unless Nigel was flat-out lying) was either MJ or David Cook. And I figured as bad as DC was, there's no way he would drop THAT far. And then factor in MJ had the dreaded #1 spot (Brooke was #1 last week, and ended up bottom 3, and someone has compiled the numbers over the years, and basically, most people get voted off when they perform early in the show), and MJ was the no-doubter. And really, he deserved it. Bad song choice for the AI crowd (even Steven Tyler doesn't sing that song with much melody, and MJ's falsetto was horrible), and I thought the performance was worse than most people rated it.

Not a huge deal...he wasn't going to win anyway. To some extent, he was a better looking, better singing version of Robbie Carrico - Simon and Randy mentioned it Tuesday, he keeps trying to be Rocker Guy but he'd be better off as a Robert Palmer type (blue-eyed soul singer). He could have totally played the suave, sophisticated crooner dude, but he kept chasing the wrong dream.

Oh, and as much as I love her, I'll be shocked if Brooke makes the top 3. However, Castro, Carly, and Syesha should leave before her, so you never know. I think she's got 2 more weeks, tops.

Heh, right when I got to this line, iTunes shuffled up Simply Irresistible.

edit: damn, it's been a while since RP was in my sig

Sucks that Michael went before others who should have went. Cook is my favorite though, so hopefully he goes to the end and loses in the finals.

The phony "I'm-shocked-who-is-going-home" look on the contestants each week makes me want to beat them with a plank.

I think that Carly might be mentally unstable.

Although her face after they announced Johns was quite funny.

I really think some of the weeks though that some contestants honestly think they are going home so, I don't think it is all phony.

Personally, I don't think the contestants know anything more than what we all can find on the net. I think Carly knew she was last in votes (when she raised her hand) because she goes to Dial Idol. And same with KLC knowing when she'd be bottom 3. You notice she didn't make a peep last night, because she knew chances were she was safe.

Also, because I keep track of things like this, Ryan specifically called MJ the bottom "vote-getter" last night. That's a phrase he rarely uses.

I noticed that phrase as well, and you have convinced me of your conspiracy that the bottom 3 might not be the bottom 3 vote getters. However, do you think they kick off people who don't have the least number of votes?

Yes, I do believe they vote off the lowest vote-getter (or to answer your question, no, I don't think they screw with who goes hom). I don't think they'd risk the backlash (not to mention potential legal issues) if they did otherwise. But certainly, I think they screw with the bottom 3 from time to time. Carly a couple of weeks ago is a good example of someone I believe they put in there to generate sympathy and votes for (because she's one of the presumed finalists, but isn't really developing a strong following). They may not be able to save her, though. Which, of course, is probably why she bombed as a solo artist in the first place...she isn't all that likeable and doesn't perform all that well. This week wasn't the first time she's looked like a murderer over-singing a song.

I've believed for a while now that two of the three are last and next to last but the third one is someone they want to put a scare into.

I don't know all of the legalities of a "game show" being fixed, but I believe it is somewhat illegal to tamper with the actual results of the show so as to fix it for a certain winner. If they did that, it could cause alot of problems for them.

I think it is likely they just do as others mention, and try to shape the contest the way they want by the light they present people, the songs they have them sing, how they "advertise" certain contestants over others and even not being completely honest with the bottom 3 even.

My guess is as long as they don't violate the "rules" of their contest, and kick someone off that didn't lose, or award someone who didn't win, they aren't liable..

I could be way completely wrong however as I am not a lawyer, but I just remember some stories of other game shows getting in big trouble over this type of thing before long ago.

They can do whatever they want. It's not a game show, at least not in the "Quiz Show" way. It's a reality show. All the votes are "free", so no voter has any legitimate interest in their vote. The only people with a vested interest are the contestants, and I'd be stunned beyond belief if their contracts didn't basically say (in legalese) "Idol is for entertainment only and the show's producers are free to do whatever they want and retain whatever performers they want during the duration of this season".

I would guess that they dump the lowest vote-getter, then dick around with the other two in the "bottom three" to build storylines and create drama like any sensible reality show does. As a live show, that's the only thing they can really script - other than the judge's comments, which is a completely different animal.

You may be correct there then, but then I guess I am confused what the difference between a game show where you compete with others for a prize vs a reality show where you compete against others for a prize differs. I thought I remembered back in early seasons of Survivor that they said they wernt allowed to try to influence who got voted out or such, and simply just tried to script the tv cuts to make it the most compelling tv around what happened.

I could be totally offbase though, which is why I stated I don't know what I'm talking about! :)

I think part of the odd reactions come from multiple takes and editing, which comes from a live taping. It's no different than any of those home make-over shows where they are showing the new home to the surprised participants (we've had two done locally and they reported how the filmed and edited the shows). The reason comes from lighting, camera positions and blocking.

AI is taped live on the day-of but editing to present a slick package to the viewers in the different time zones. It also serves to edit out anything that would be objectionable. Remember Paul Pott's famous audition performance on UK Got Talent? He did do the full 2 1/2 minute version of Nessun Dorma but they edited down to the required 90 seconds.

Here's something from Billboards


As far as the votes and bottom 3, I still go back to the disclaimer shown in the credits. That can be interpreted different ways but I believe it gives them an out, compared to real game shows.